Stark foster children celebrate graduation

For the 20 students in Stark County's foster care system who graduated this year, Thursday was a day to celebrate their accomplishments rather than dwell on the past.

Rising Up and Moving On is an annual celebration for foster children who have graduated from high school or college. The event is organized by the Children Services Division of Job and Family Services and Project KARE.

According to Nedra Petro, deputy director of the Children's Services Division, this is the only graduation party some of the students will have. Petro said that the event centers around a nice meal, highlighting each graduate's accomplishments, and presenting them with graduation gifts.

"We're very proud of them," Petro said.

This year, 18 foster children under the jurisdiction of Stark County graduated from high school, and two graduated from college. Of the high school graduates, 13 plan to go on to college, three will seek employment, and two will join the military.

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"We stress graduation. The department really works hard to get them (foster children) to graduate," said Project KARE volunteer Pat Gramoy, who described graduation from high school and college as a "step up in life."

Gramoy said that the Rising Up and Moving On event was meant to show foster children the importance of education and graduation.

College graduate Sally Suarez began the program with a speech reflecting on her experiences and encouraging the assembled high school graduates to push themselves to succeed.

Suarez, who graduated with honors from Kent State University's fashion merchandising program, told the graduates to surround themselves with people who are smarter than them and care about them to help guide them when life gets hard, but not to shy away from the world just because it has been unkind.

"Soak up all you can from the world because it's so much bigger and better than you realize," Suarez stressed.

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Suarez reminded the graduates that fewer than 2 percent of people who grew up in foster care graduate from college, but that this statistic should be an encouragement, not a deterrent.

"No one expects us to succeed, and that's why it's so much sweeter when we do," Suarez concluded.

Each high school graduate was then introduced by their case worker, who highlighted the graduate's achievements. The graduates were then addressed by Terrance Jones, who instructed them in his version of the "ABCs."

Jones took the crowd through the alphabet, naming an important aspect of life to match each letter. The tidbits included "dream," "never give up" and "zeal for life."